Revelstoke, Rogers Pass Roadtrip
When Ullr gives you pineapples you make a Mai Tai. A huge Pinepple ( warm wet weather system from Hawaii) – was forecasted to hit BC bringing freezing levels up to 3000m, these levels even hit the traditionally colder Central Interior of BC. So what do you do? Head east to Revelstoke and Rogers Pass to see if they missed the worst of it.
Our first day we head to Rogers Pass to see if it missed the Pineapple. We had to stop at the Rogers Pass Discoverry Center to do our Annual Permit Quiz and get our permits and information. Note that due to avalanche control in the pass some areas may be closed and its important to check to see what’s open before you go. Another good source of information on skiing in Rogers Pass is Doug Sprouls Guide Book – Rogers Pass – Uptracks, Bootpacks and Bushwacks. [TA link to article i wrote about Rogers Pass in Things to Do].
Michelle giving lot of info to the tourers who ventured here this weekend.
You can park overnight, but can you camp?
We decided to check out the Asulkan Valley. Avalanche conditions were still high on this day so sticking to the trees was a good option. Our new Toyota Tacoma was our ever faithful beast of burden!
Unfortunately the Pineapple did make it here so we just toodled around, had lunch and headed back to Revelstoke.
Tad wet
The next day with temperatures staying warm and the clouds remaining we opted to cruise at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. They now have an Avalanche Ranch where 8 transceivers are buried so you can practice your searching. They also now have La Baguette food at the top of the Gondola.
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Cruising was not bad.
Our third day promised sunnier skies so we decided to head back up to Rogers Pass and Ski up the Valley to Balu Pass. The following picture shows how low the snow is this year. The top photo is from 2012, the bottom from 2015. This low snow back made us not want to venture into the trees but to stay in the open areas where travel would be faster.
The skin up was beautiful as usual! The snow was hard and fast. Pretty much all the steep chutes had slide debris in them, off the mank you could find some nice dust on crust. Temperatures at the top of Balu pass were -2oC.
We decided to ski down into the 8812 bowl, it was nice dust on crust, but more icy where it got steeper in the trees.
Top – 2012, Bottom – 2015
Grizzly slide path had slid.
Fast travel up Balu Pass.
Snow was good on certain aspects
8812 bowl becons but getting there could have been interesting
Dust pow on crust!
Where to Stay
We opt to showcase the Sutton Place Hotel at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The Sutton Place is palatial and customer service is a premium. It has a couple of hot tubs and close to food and the RMR Resort. While a bit removed from town, this means quiet, and to put it in context it only takes an extra 5 minutes to get to the highway if you want to get to Rogers Pass. Surprisingly the Sutton Place is reasonably priced. We were in a 2 bedroom suite. It’s entirely possible to share the suite with one or two other couples (there’s a pull-out bed) or with a family and cook your own breakfast in their full kitchen.
The main hotel building.
Dinner at the Rockford Grill
Sutton Place – two bedrooms, living area and storage
Balcony, Hot Tub in our building, Mackenzie Pub and Outdoor Swimming Pool.
Dinner at the Woolsey Cafe – great place to eat for nice food and ambiance. Consistently the top-rated restaurant in the region. We’ve been going here for 14 years!